Technology and Security

Ballantyne Ridge will feature state-of-the-art technology in all classrooms, including Promethean boards (interactive whiteboards) and Chromeboxes (desktop versions of Chromebooks). There is also an abundance of security cameras throughout the facility. Visitors can enter only through one door, and they enter a corridor with a window where they engage with staff. Then, they must go through a secondary security check before being admitted. For after-school events in the auditorium or gym, parents and visitors must also enter through one side entrance and can see only that one event. “It’s a twofold checks and balances system, which is nice to have,” Miliote says.

For easy access, Ballantyne Ridge can be reached either off Community House Road or Johnston Road, with stoplights at both intersections. A circular drive extends all the way around the school and athletic fields, with an exit leading to a two-lane carpool line to reduce congestion at opening and closing times.

PTO Board

Miliote formed the Ballantyne Ridge Parent Teacher Student Organization board last summer. “We have met monthly, have subcommittees in place and have already begun fundraising and getting community sponsorships,” he says. “We have parents united and mobilized.” For more information on the PTO, email PTSO@brhswolves.com.

Now that the new high school is finally opening, Miliote can’t wait to see it grow. “We think it will be the best high school in CMS, and we are excited to have this opportunity with the IB program in particular,” he says. “It will be a shiny and new experience for students in South Charlotte, and we get to shape that together.”

Knights View Elementary School

Knights View Elementary School, situated on Beau Riley Road just off Ardrey Kell Road, opens this fall with 500 students from kindergarten through fourth grade. The first fifth grade class will enter next year. The school will also offer pre-K; the Extensions program, which provides the entire continuum of services to students with disabilities based on individual needs; and a first-ever K-2 Developmental Class, which provides students with exceptional needs access to the general education curriculum.

Knights View will be a “Leader in Me” school as well. “This program is the elementary school version of Steven Covey’s ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ course and is typically found only in private, magnet or Title 1 schools in CMS,” says Principal Summer Rogers. Ballantyne Elementary School was the first in North Carolina to be an on-demand “Leader in Me” school, and Knights View will now be the second.

According to Rogers, the “Leader in Me” on-demand program focuses on three areas: culture, academics and leadership. “We teach students how to be leaders of their learning, leaders of their behavior, and leaders of their school and community, and we give them opportunities to do so. Students already voted for the school’s name, mascot, playground benches and picnic tables. Everyone here, including teachers and staff, will be going through this leadership program as well.”

Although CMS pays for the “Leader in Me” program in magnet schools and through federal funds for Title 1 schools, Knights View must pay for it out of pocket, so Rogers is seeking corporate sponsors.

Knights View will offer many enrichment opportunities, including a Makerspace Special Area Class where students can create, problem-solve and develop skills, talents, thinking and mental rigor. The school will also offer a variety of academic and extracurricular activities before and after school.

The school’s name reflects the future of its students, as Knights View is a feeder school for the Ardrey Kell High School Knights across the street. Students, staff and families will be known as the Knights View Royals. Their mascot is a Royal Dragon, and the school colors are blue, green and yellow.

Security measures include a fence surrounding the entire playground and an enclosed front entrance where visitors, staff and students enter the building. To ease congestion on Ardrey Kell Road, a stoplight has been installed where the high school and elementary school entrances intersect. In addition, Knights View has a one-way entrance for the carpool, which exits via a separate lane, while buses also exit on a separate road.

Shared Space With Parks & Rec

In addition to being one of CMS’ few three-story elementary schools, Knights View is one of 45 shared spaces with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Department of Parks and Recreation. Knights View students will use a gym housed in a separate building adjacent to the classroom building at times during the school day, but the public will have access during other hours (Parks & Rec has yet to set those times).

Like Miliote, Rogers has already formed a Parent Teacher Association board. “We are combining Hawk Ridge Elementary and Elon Park Elementary families, so we are having to create the Knights View way and what the mission will be for our new school.” She is eagerly anticipating her first year at Knights View. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I am honored to be principal.”

Content provided by Ballantyne Magazine writer Nan Bauroth.